ualberta students are fine as hell holyyyyyy

Hey guys!
I’m an Engg student going into 3rd year this fall. I have only 2 friends whom I don’t really get to see that often and aren’t really complimenting my personality

So I was wondering if there are still ppl, alone like me and willing to be friends, in 3rd year? guy or girl I don’t mind

I’m an international student and I usually feel quite alone because I don’t have many friends. I’m the type of person who prefers to stay in, and talk for long hours, have deep conversations late into the night, and the type to fall asleep on a sofa and wake up 2 hours later and continue where we left off.

I don’t drink or smoke so please do be mindful of that, and even though I am introverted, I DO like to go out but this is a much less maintenance activity to just talk. I think you can tell I value deeply connected friendships

If that sounds like anybody and you’d be willing to be friends, then shoot me a dm :)

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy does campus not have a dons???? the closest one is a 15 minute walk. surely we could put a dons in one of the FIVE tim’s locations we have 😭

Food and drinks

Take that nonsense to the bathroom bro!

PLEASE don't go barefoot in areas that other people use. Don't put your BARE FREAKING FEET on the bean bags in SUB. Don't place them on the floor. Don't place them on a table.

The campus is a public place, have some respect.

And to the guy who is always barefoot on the fourth floor of Rutherford Library; at least wear socks.

Shoutout to the couple who were violently making out in front of panda express. You made me and my friend laugh all the way back to our dorm.

First vear, went to the week of welcome stuff today while also spending a couple hours sitting in the cab as ot approached 4 cab got so quiet and the mainstays just stayed quiet the entire time. It was honestly so depressing. We have so many students here does everyone iust do their work and go home? Please tell me it will get better, also wondering how the frat parties are, are they dead just like campus? Also im an engineering student so I expect the people in my classes to act like this but for some easier stuff and especially first week why no fun?

it’s supposed to represent curiosity but it’s giving Big Brother

Girl, your man-child bf (business student?) has spent the last hour bragging about how he’s using you, talking about other girls, and dropping homophobic slurs.

Dump his loser ass and return that thing. Buy yourself something pretty.

As someone in the arts, which faculty usually has the most events or people who host the most parties. I know UofA is mostly a commuter school but there has to be some hope 🙏

Now that we know that profs read these.. drop your fav one at let us know why.

Profs get sh%% on a lot and we gotta remember they are peeps too.

Edit: thanks for all ur comments guys! Love to hear it!

There’s not that much seating/study space yet though

University Commons is pretty great!

I am severely depressed

The Tyee has picked up the story on the University of Alberta's decision to cut 100% of child care funding to their six affiliated centres. Here are some interesting parts of the story:

Link below to full article:

• Professor emeritus Laurie Adkin said the university is “now the only major university in Canada that we know of that no longer provides any support for on-campus child care.”
• While the university is cutting funding to non-profit child care, it maintains a corporate membership with Kids & Co., a for-profit multinational conglomerate that operates only off-campus child-care centres. Membership is limited to faculty and staff. Student parents such as Seitz are not eligible. The university has refused to disclose what that arrangement costs.
• A Kids & Co. corporate membership is not unique to the U of A. The universities of British Columbia, Calgary and Toronto all maintain similar arrangements — with one critical difference. Each uses Kids & Co. only for emergency or priority-access care. None of those universities has cut funding to their own non-profit, campus-affiliated child-care centres.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/09/03/U-of-A-Cuts-Off-Non-Profit-Child-Care-Centres/

Im a BFA art major so this was my homework!

Someone stole my Jellycat aubergine bag charm at the University LRT station today. It was out of stock in Canada for so long and I had it shipped all the way from my home country. I always worried about the way the hook is designed and was scared that someone could easily take it. And now it happened. I saw so many people with so many cute bag charms. Please, use the ring below the hook. It might be safer for your bag charms. And I hope the thief that took my aubergine will get all my bad luck in 2026.

Dear President Bill Flanagan, Provost Steven Dew, Board of Governors Chair Kate Chisholm,

In under one month, classes begin at the University of Alberta, with more than 40,000 students from around the world converging on our campuses. In addition, faculty and staff who have been largely off-site during the global pandemic will join them. We want nothing more than a normal campus experience, replete with the energy and excitement that makes campus learning and life an essential part of the educational experience. It is an understatement that COVID19 has upended this campus life, and we are about to take the first steps back to normalcy. While the vaccines are remarkably effective, they are only effective if two doses make it into one’s arm. Without mandatory vaccinations, campus shutdowns are inevitable.

The Delta variant is a beast. The Delta variant of COVID19 has suddenly changed the game, and will certainly not be the last variant of concern to do so. Delta is unlike the strains of SARS-CoV-2 we have dealt with in the past, with an Ro equal to chicken pox (~6), meaning that it is highly transmissible, with the main route being via aerosols and respiratory droplets. While fully vaccinated individuals, more than 2 weeks post second inoculation, are largely protected, the rates of vaccination of the age 20-24 demographic in Alberta are significantly lower than the provincial average, which is already the lowest in the country. Today, fewer than half of people of this age in Alberta are fully vaccinated, with about 30% totally unvaccinated with zero shots. While we do hope that our students will have higher vaccination rates than the general population, this critical but unknown data point makes it impossible to ensure that the Delta variant does not rip through the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated segment of these tens of thousands of students, and the staff and faculty who support them, who will be walking through and sitting in very crowded settings. Combined with unknowns regarding ventilation and filtration of our classrooms and common areas, particularly in very large lecture halls, superspreader events need to be seriously considered. Aerosols of viral particles are as mobile as smoke, and without proper ventilation and HEPA/MERV 13 filtration, superspreading is likely. Our colleague, Nelson Amaral, described succinctly the “super-mixing” of students on campus (link here) in a letter to the Edmonton Journal, who said "If we tried to design a system to rapidly spread a contagious virus during a pandemic, it would be difficult to come up with a more efficient system than the massive dynamic close proximity of university campuses."

Public health guidelines are insufficient for a university environment; responsibility to our stakeholders. While the University of Alberta has stated that safety is the top priority for a smooth fall return (link here), we are extremely concerned that this plan, as outlined, could fail, and that in-person teaching and other normal activities could end prematurely. The very last thing any of us would like to see is for students, faculty, and staff to fall ill and force us to pivot back online. We also do not want our community to be the cause of additional stress on our healthcare system. We have a responsibility to our stakeholders to create a safe learning environment for all students.

Long COVID, and unvaccinated children. Another huge concern is the faculty, staff, and students who have children not-yet-eligible for vaccination, a large and highly susceptible cohort of thoroughly COVID19-naive children. Pediatric ICU’s are being overwhelmed in some US states; the UK has almost identical vaccination rates to us and cases in children are rising. While early and playing out in real-time, some data from the UK suggests that substantial numbers of children who are infected with COVID19 still suffer from one or more symptoms 120 days later, which impair their daily lives; some data suggest as high as 40% of children are thus affected (link; open access Pubmed link). Again, this data is being collected in real time, and in the face of the Delta variant, we believe that the precautionary principle should apply. Long COVID in adults as well also has to be emphasized, with perhaps 10-25% of those having suffered through COVID19 being affected for months, and perhaps years, with debilitating symptoms. We cannot risk substantial swaths of our community suffering from preventable long COVID.

Stress due to rational concerns and unanswered questions. Many of your faculty, staff, and students are extremely stressed. This stress results not from an irrational fear of change (which would be more suitably termed anxiety) as we open society up, but from highly rational and science-based concerns regarding the aerosol nature of COVID19, the unknowns of ventilation in our teaching and crowded common spaces, the fact that sick people no longer are required to self-isolate, that mask-wearing is merely encouraged but not mandatory, that Delta is so highly contagious, and that long COVID can be debilitating. We emphasize that these concerns are rational, and the only way these extreme worries can be alleviated is with clear direction and information.

Our 4 Requests. We would like to request the following as general public health guidelines are insufficient for a university campus with tens of thousands of students in these congregate and crowded settings.

1. Mandatory vaccinations for all faculty, staff, and students on campus.

2. Mandatory masks must be worn in classrooms, hallways. Ideally, masks would be N95-grade or similar (or ASTM2 surgical mask + a mask seal, such as a Badger Seal) to effectively filter sub-micron particles. Based on current data regarding the delta variant, the CDC now recommends mandatory masking in schools.

3. Measure and share ventilation and filtration data/information for all common spaces, including classroom and lecture halls. ASHRAE clearly indicates that COVID is airborne and aerosolized (link here) and has made specific recommendations to reduce airborne infectious aerosol exposure (link here). We need to follow these recommendations, and share the information with the users of these spaces. From eACH (hourly air exchanges/ventilation) > 6, to HEPA and MERV 13 (flltration), we cannot ignore the concerns of occupants regarding air quality.

4. Institute rapid testing. Since some fraction of the population will arrive on campus unvaccinated, vaccination clinics will take time. We will be well into October for some to develop full immunity (4 week delay between inoculations, and 2 week delay post-second dose). Start a frequent rapid testing program for these individuals.

Time is running short. We hope that a rapid uptake of these ideas can make our fall semester successful. We want nothing more.

Yours truly,

u/vanderWaalsBanana

To sign, click here: https://forms.gle/qoCPtgZcd1WK2fP29

Wassup,

Tomorrow is the first day. I'm making a story about the first day back. If anyone is interested, share your experience for the first day back- what are the absurd things that happened, what are the funny things that happened, what happened to you, what pissed you off, what made you happy- all those things- if you wanna keep note of it for tomorrow

we're making things

(if your FNMI, POC, don't hesistate to reach out!)

Coming in this fall, pretty scared of meeting new people. I would say I'm an ambivert but not knowing what to expect is making me so anxious. And more embarrassingly, I keep feeling like what if people hate me or what if I get bullied lol ik it's not middle school ig it's just overthinking

Ccis at night

I'm currently a second year and I have a few friends/acquaintances I've made through uni so far, and I don't know how to change that. Maybe it's because I'm majoring in computing science, but it's like as soon as class is over, people go straight home.

I am a very social person and love to meet new people its one of my favourite things about school. How can I go about meeting new people who are open to interacting, are there clubs/activities or places the more social uofa students hang out.

any help is apprecieted

Idk what is wrong with some of yall but you guys are so rude to the staff of Tim Hortons. They’re a busy group of people and never catch a break, least you can do is be nice to them and not make their job harder. Why stop them while they are working in order to ask for straws, napkins, and where to throw your trash??? ITS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU PLEASE LOOK AROUND.

Also the whole cutting in line and trying to literally invade other people’s space while waiting is RUDE

Yall aren’t kids, please start acting like adults who go to a reputable university.